Football: first through fourth down

Nothing heralds fall’s arrival like the beginning of football season. Once all but the best boys of summer have been chased back into the locker room, the men that play the rough, tough and always-dynamic game of football don their cleats and step out onto the field.

Football has, without a doubt, become America’s No. 1 sport. Among the four major sports leagues, the National Football League’s average team value increased by $573 million from 1995 to 2005. The next most lucrative league was Major League Baseball, with the average team’s value increasing by a low-by-comparison $221 million in the same time period.

Any die-hard fan of the sport will say football is a game of the utmost subtlety. A quarterback with a 350-pound lineman in his face might disagree, but to the fans, the rules and strategies of the game are carried out in quiet confidence.

This can pose a problem for anyone trying to approach the game for the first time. More often than not, it looks like just a bunch of guys running at each other, trying to get the ball down the field into the box that sits below the thing that looks like a yellow tuning fork. This basic guide should help clear the air.

Basic game play and positions

Defense: There are 11 men. The goal is to prevent the ball from moving down the field and to get possession of the ball if at all possible.

Offense: There are 11 men. The goal is to move the football down the field. There is the quarterback, who is responsible for throwing the ball to receivers or handing it off to the backs that run the ball. There are three or four men up front to protect the quarterback.

Field set-up: There are 100 yards of turf to cover and two end zones, each 10 yards deep. The field and end zones are 53.3 meters wide. The uprights are 10 feet tall and 18 feet, 6 inches wide.

Game play: The offense and defense line up against each other at the line of scrimmage, which is where the ball starts. From there, the offense has four opportunities, called downs, to gain 10 yards in whatever manner they deem fit.

After four attempts, if the minimum yardage has not been met, possession of the ball is turned over to the other team and their offense then takes over. There are four quarters of 15 minutes, with a 12-minute break in between the second and third quarters.

Scoring

Touchdown: The ball crosses into the end zone in the hands of a player. Six points.

Point after: After scoring a touchdown, the offense is allowed to kick a goal from their opponent’s 3-yard line. One point.

Two-point conversion: Instead of kicking a goal after a touchdown, the offense may choose to once again try to get the ball into the end zone from their opponent’s 3-yard line. Two points.

Field goal: Though not able to take the ball into the end zone, the team may opt to kick the ball through the uprights. Three points.

Safety: If the offense causes the ball to become dead in its own end zone, points and possession are awarded to the defense. Two points.

Penalties

There are numerous penalties in football. Most are minor infractions that call for a down to be replayed in conjunction with a 5-yard penalty. Penalties of this nature include a member of the offense or defense being on the wrong side of the line of scrimmage when ball play begins.

There are more serious penalties that include the loss of down and 15 yards, including a variety of personal fouls.

Football is a difficult game to follow, but this basic, introductory guide should set the uninitiated on a path to understanding the ins and outs and subtleties of the game.